INSKEEP: That's "Good Vibrations" by The Beach Boys. Listen carefully and you hear a high-pitched space-age sound in the background.

GREENE: And that's Paul Tanner again, bridging the Big Band and Beach Boys eras. This time, he's playing the Electro-Theremin which gives the song its eerie, sliding sound.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC, "GOOD VIBRATIONS")

INSKEEP: Paul Tanner died this week at the age of 95. He made the music for the Greatest Generation and the music of the Baby Boomers. The span of his career just happened to coincide with huge changes at the middle of the 20th century, and he was in the studio to play it.